I thought the same thing. Either they were underachieving for a month or the AFC in general is not good. Or both.

The Patriots are still a very good organization but the Dynasty aspect is either over or in its final days. It will all be over once Brady retires. On top of that they haven't won a Super Bowl in 8 years. Again good franchise but they aren't the lead dog anymore imo.

It'll be interesting as the new crop of QBs take over for Manning and Brady. Guys like Kaepernick, Wilson, and even Matt Ryan are the new wave of SB winners IMO. Hopefully Geno Smith's Chiefs teams too. :)

Talk about overreacting you know youre great when losing in the afc title game is underachieving.

Thing is...the league likes their pretty-boys. Brady is a great face for the NFL and talks the part. Flacco might be ascending, but he will never be embraced as an NFL face. He can render all that irrelevant w/ multiple Brady-like seasons over the next 10 years...but he's yet to even make it to the big game before this year.

Thus...it made sense to pick the Patriots. I really don't see the problem with this. Maybe Flacco will make such predictions different next year. My guess is he'll get creamed in the SB and he'll lose his defensive blanket next year and have to stand on his own...and then, we'll see what he's got.

The SF defense wins this SB...the QB's won't be the story, either way. After all, this is the Harbaugh bowl.